Wav­ing posters and chant­ing “Free D.C.,” a crowd call­ing for the gov­ern­ment to re­open on the Cap­it­ol’s East Front tried to in­ter­rupt a Sen­ate Demo­crat­ic news con­fer­ence Wed­nes­day.

Thirty-five Demo­crat­ic law­makers stood on the Cap­it­ol’s steps and re­it­er­ated their now-fa­mil­i­ar de­mands to Re­pub­lic­ans. While some of the pro­test­ers in­ter­viewed said they blamed the GOP, and not Demo­crats, the scene made for an awk­ward jux­ta­pos­i­tion.

At one point, D.C. May­or Vin­cent Gray walked slowly from the site of the protest at the area known as the Sen­ate Swamp, to­ward the sen­at­ors. There was a brief mo­ment of ten­sion, be­cause it was un­clear what Gray would say or wheth­er he in­ten­ded to in­ter­rupt, but Sen­ate Ma­jor­ity Lead­er Harry Re­id, D-Nev., smiled at Gray, stretched out his hand, and wel­comed him onto the steps.

Leroy Thorpe, a North­w­est res­id­ent and gov­ern­ment so­cial work­er who’s lived in Wash­ing­ton since 1980, said he wants to see Con­gress re­open the gov­ern­ment im­me­di­ately. Oth­ers near him nod­ded in as­sent. “I think we need to stop the grid­lock,” he said. “I think the Re­pub­lic­ans are hold­ing the na­tion host­age and hurt­ing a lot of people.”

Demo­crats took the op­por­tun­ity to re­ject the House’s so-called mini-con­tinu­ing res­ol­u­tions and asked for their col­leagues to ad­opt their CR.

The dis­trict’s sole rep­res­ent­at­ive in Con­gress also ad­dressed the crowd of pro­test­ers, telling them that if they wanted to speak to law­makers, they should enter the Cap­it­ol or of­fice build­ings. “I don’t think I need to tell you all what you need from sen­at­ors,” Del­eg­ate Elean­or Holmes Norton of the Dis­trict of Columbia told the pro­test­ers. “Out here we’re talk­ing to ourselves, but if they hear dir­ectly from you, that makes some dif­fer­ence.”

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) are threatening to block the spending bill—and prevent the Senate from leaving town—"because it would not extend benefits for retired coal miners for a year or pay for their pension plans. The current version of the bill would extend health benefits for four months. ... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Thursday afternoon moved to end debate on the continuing resolution to fund the government through April 28. But unless Senate Democrats relent, that vote cannot be held until Saturday at 1 a.m. at the earliest, one hour after the current funding measure expires."

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PARLIAMENT VOTED 234-56

South Korean President Impeached

1 hours ago

THE LATEST

The South Korean parliament voted on Friday morning to impeach President Park Geun-hye over charges of corruption, claiming she allowed undue influence to a close confidante of hers. Ms. Park is now suspended as president for 180 days. South Korea's Constitutional Court will hear the case and decide whether to uphold or overturn the impeachment.

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CLOSED FOR INAUGURAL ACTIVITIES

NPS: Women’s March Can’t Use Lincoln Memorial

1 hours ago

THE DETAILS

Participants in the women's march on Washington the day after inauguration won't have access to the Lincoln Memorial. The National Park Service has "filed documents securing large swaths of the national mall and Pennsylvania Avenue, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial for the inauguration festivities. None of these spots will be open for protesters."

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2.1 PERCENT IN 2017

President Obama Boosts Civilian Federal Pay

1 hours ago

THE LATEST

President Obama on Thursday announced a pay raise for civilian federal employees of 2.1 percent come January 2017. He had said multiple times this year that salaries would go up 1.6 percent, so the Thursday announcement came as a surprise. The change was likely made to match the 2.1 percent increase in salary that members of the military will receive.

Source:

SHUTDOWN LOOMING

House Approves Spending Bill

20 hours ago

BREAKING

The House has completed it's business for 2016 by passing a spending bill which will keep the government funded through April 28. The final vote tally was 326-96. The bill's standing in the Senate is a bit tenuous at the moment, as a trio of Democratic Senators have pledged to block the bill unless coal miners get a permanent extension on retirement and health benefits. The government runs out of money on Friday night.